The Rivers State House of Assembly passed two bills into law during their resumed plenary in Port Harcourt.
The bills scaled third reading unopposed despite the controversies
caused by their perceived political undertone.
Last week the house of Assembly sent the Traditional Rulers Amendment Bill 2024 to the Committee on chieftaincy and community affairs for further scrutiny.
The summary of their recommendation is that all three amendments to specific sections of the principal law should be adopted.
The major feature requires the legislature to agree with any executive
decision to recognize or derecognize traditional rulers and appoint
leaders of the state council of traditional rulers.
All 21 lawmakers who voted were also in favor of passing the Rivers
State Advertisement and use of state owned property prohibition repeal bill 2024 into law.
Amongst other changes, this new law removes the N5m non refundable fee to be paid before government gives permission to use public spaces.
The old law came into effect at the peak of the 2023 general election
campaign, that’s why the timing of this replacement has received knocks.
This is the 4th law passed by the Rivers State House of Assembly in the last 4 months.
The other 2 are the Rivers State Funds Management Bill 2023 for
financial autonomy of the State Legislature and the Rivers State Local
Government Amendment Bill 2023 to protect the Councils from dissolutions.
and appointment of caretaker committees by the state government.
It is unclear if Governor Siminalayi Fubara would give his assent and
what steps the house would take if he fails to do so within the
stipulated 30 days.
